Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Reese is 4 1/2 months old! I can't believe it! She is growing so fast and doing new things every day. She just had her 4 month well visit this morning. She is now 14 lbs 11.5 oz (75th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches long (60th percintile). Here are some of my favorite new pics of her at 4 months old!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

My parents recently celebrated their 4oth Wedding Anniversary! That is a pretty impressive milestone and one that deserved celebrating. My sister and I have been planning a few surprises since Nov. You see my folks got married on New Years Day 1970 and we wanted to throw them a party. Well we all know how crazy the holidays are and adding one more party to the mix would just not make for a very successful event. So we decided to plan the party for the end of Jan. In the mean time we didn't want them to think we weren't doing anything for their anniversary so we presented them with a weekend get-a-way to Charlottesville, VA. They love History and was very excited to be going away together for the first time in years!

We planned out the menu, ordered the cake, brought the decorations with us and had 50people RSVP. Our excuse to our parents on why we were all coming home was that we wanted to spend Sat. at IKEA and since they only live about an hour from there we would come the evening before and spend the night with them. They had no clue we were up to anything except a day of shopping!

A few days before we left we heard that the DC area would be getting a light dusting of snow. This isn't a big deal because, unlike VA Beach, they have the equipment and salt needed to clear the streets. Well that was not the case! It started snowing sometime early Sat. morning and continued through the evening. The one inch turned into about 6-8 inches.

Bethany and I tried to run out to Costco to pick up the cake and other food when we got stuck on the interstate for over an hour and a half. At this point the calls began to come in. Looked like no one was going to make it the party due to the weather. We finally got off the closest exit and made it to a local grocery store to pick up some things but never did make it to Costco for the cake. We barely made it home before my parents came back from their lunch with friends Dan and Claudette (major kudos to Dan and Claudette for risking their lives to meet my folks for lunch to get them out of the house for a few hours.)

Needless to say...they were surprised and thrilled even though the only ones in attendance were their kids and a handful of family brave enough to brave the snow, we had a great time. They even renewed their vows thanks to Andy.

I'm very behind on my blogging these days so please bare with me. Last week was a very crazy week. What was suppose to be an hour long OT turned out to be Gracie's annual evaluation with the VA Beach Early Intervention Program. It's hard to believe she has been receiving these services for a year already. The basically take a look at her past goals and compare them to where she is now. She is also tested Cognitive, Speech, Fine Motor, and Gross Motor skills. They score these against the ELAP, which I have forgotten what that stands for. Basically it is the standard testing for babies/toddlers/kids across the board. Typically and non-typically developing.

Here are Gracie's scores! Can I get a drum roll please..

Gross Motor- 21 monthsFine Motor- 18 months (this is based on her right side, the weaker side, but is a big improvement)Receptive speech- 30 monthsProjected speech-21 monthsCognitive- 24 months

Praise God!!! She is right on track and a head in every area with the exception of Fine Motor with her right side! If it weren't for her automatic qualification (because of her diagnosis) she would not even qualify for these services due to her scores! We are soooo proud of her!

During Gracie's evaluation we had them take a look at Reese as well. She currently has an educator come out once a month to work on basic things because she is so young still. However, they were so impressed with her development that we decided to move up her start date for PT so we can continue with this forward progression. Reese started rolling over at 3 months, which the therapist said is 6 month skill. She is also reaching for and transferring toys from one hand to another which is a 5 month skill. She too is a head of the game and we couldn't be happier!

Even if our kids weren't doing as well as they are we would still be just as proud and love them just as much. They are overcoming all odds and doing what other "typically" developing children do at the same rate if not faster. We have very determined little girls and are so excited to see them accomplish each milestone. Thank you all for your support and prayers over the past year with Grace and now with the past four months with Reese! We know your prayers were heard! God has blessed us more than we ever imagined possible!

About Me

Welcome to our first ever husband/wife blog about parenting. We are sure to entertain with the crazy up's and down's that come with raising not one but two special needs children. This blog is a place for us to be candid and real and a place to educate and advocate for Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome. The inspiration and motivation behind all that we do as parents come from our 3 year old, Grace and 2 year old Reese. They amaze us each day with all they accomplish and continue to defy all odds! We encourage you to keep an open mind and hope that you are able to see them for their "like"ability and not their dis-ablity.